I recently bought some GUC dipes that I believe are OC or OC/Hemp blend and noticed that they feel quite stiff and a bit "hard" I'm sure it's just from repeated previous washings & wear, but I'm wondering if there is a safe way to "soften" them up again. I'm sure they'll never feel as soft as brand new dipes, but just hoping for a little bit more softness would be nice

I'm so careful not to use any additives to my wash routine except the minimum amount of detergent, but I'm wondering if maybe a touch of liquid fabric softener would be called for in this case? Maybe a pre-soak in cold w/some softener - or add the softener to the actual hot wash cycle? I don't want to damage the dipes, just wanna soften 'em up a bit......anyone have any recommendations?

Vinegar will work fine as a fabric softener. I wouldn't add any commercial softener b/c it adds a coating that reduces absorbancy. Have you wahed them yet? Because the tumble dryer can also help with hemp stiffness. I'm not sure how much vinegar to add--maybe 1/4 cup or so to the final rinse. Then tumble dry. That should soften them up nicely!

I just got them a couple days ago from another Mama on here & I don't know how she dried them, but in after my initial wash, I tumble dried them in the machine dryer.

I may try the vinegar in the rinse cycle to see if that helps any. Although I usually do an extra rinse after adding any vinegar (just to make sure I get all of it out). I know I used vinegar once or twice before when stripping, and I don't think I noticed the dipes being any softer. Although I guess I wasn't really looking for softness then but now I am. LOL!!

With summer coming on I want to line dry the diapers. I did it the other day, put vinegar in the rinse and they were terribly stiff when dry on the line. I don't have a timer on my dryer and I air fluffed them and that seemed to help, but I was trying to avoid using the dryer (to save $$$). Any other suggestions?

With summer coming on I want to line dry the diapers. I did it the other day, put vinegar in the rinse and they were terribly stiff when dry on the line. I don't have a timer on my dryer and I air fluffed them and that seemed to help, but I was trying to avoid using the dryer (to save $$$). Any other suggestions?

i find that if i dry them for about 10-20 minutes (i know you said you don't have a timer, but maybe just do it for a bit and then take them out) - they won't be dry but it loosens them up from the wash - and then air dry the rest of the way they don't get nearly as stiff.

it also depends a lot on the kinds of fabrics you have. i find the velour doesn't do well with air drying like described above - they still seem crunchy to me - but sherpa, cotton, hemp, etc. seem to do just fine with it.

Here is a thread about it. I have one precious bottle of DA I bought 6 months ago, but I haven't tried it yet.

these 2 apparently do not cause the repelling.

Thank you for that MDC link - that was interesting to read!! I'll have to check out that Ecover & maybe the Method and compare the 2. Maybe I might do a special small load wash with just these couple of "crunchy" dipes diapers w/a touch of the softener to see if that'll help. I don't want to use it on all of my dipes if the others are just fine.